Barry Conn (NSW) & Kipiro Damas (LAE).
Guide to trees of Papua New Guinea
Copyright held by the authors, National Herbarium of New South Wales, and Papua New Guinea National Herbarium

Prunus grisea (C.Muell.) Kalkman var. grisea

Blumea Vol. 13: 56 (1965)

Other Literature: C. Kalkman, Flora Malesiana, Series 1 338-339 (1993)

Family: Rosaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Non-timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 40 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical; straight; buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or brown, slightly rough or smooth, pustular, lenticels elongated vertically; Subrhytidome (under-bark) pink; less than 25 mm thick; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present when young or absent, hairs dense to sparse.

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, spiral (leaves occurring singly at a node and arranged spirally up the branchlet), simple (a leaf composed of a single blade); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest at or near middle to broadest below middle to equally broad throughout much of length, (5.0-) 9.0-20.0 cm, 2.5-9.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, rarely obtuse, acuminate, or long-tapering, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface dull green, upper surface dark green (glossy (to dull), indumentum (hairs) absent or present, indumentum (hairs) sparse; absent or present (when present, mostly 2 basal glands, rarely 4); domatia absent; stipules present, free, laterally placed, not encircling the twig, leafy, not fringed, large (1.5-8 mm long), persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on an unbranched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 3.0-6.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (3-5 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white, yellow, or green; 6-13, free or some or partly joined (by misinterpretation (sepals and petals joined to mouth of floral tube); stamens 15-50, present, free of each other, free of the perianth or joined to the perianth (by misinterpretation (stamens joined to mouth of floral tube, separate from the petals and sepals); ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 1; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 6.0-13.0 mm long, white, red, black when mature, or purple when mature, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, to about 5 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long) (testa glabrous), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 4 mm diam.).

Distribution: Western Highlands, Southern Highlands, Northern & Milne Bay.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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